Pickled Carrots!

This year's CSA box from Laughing Onion CSA in Hollister, CA is bringing a bounty of produce that I cannot comprehend. 

To deal, I am  perfecting my pickling methods. 

To start, I grabbed about three bunches of carrots.  I chopped off the ends, and sliced them into 1/2 inch thick sticks.  These were perfect mini carrots, that fit into a pint sized mason jar perfectly. I also de-"shelled" a head of garlic (about 18 cloves inside), and sliced an onion into 1/4 inch thick rings, which were chopped into 2-inch long pieces (approximately).

Then, I boiled a large pot of water and added in some chopped onions, the carrots, and the garlic and blanched them for about 4 minutes.  After 4 minutes, I poured them into a stariner and cooled them off with some running water to stop them from cooking. 

After sanitizing about 6 mason jars in boiling water for 15 minutes, I laid them out on the counter.  In each jar, I put a healthy portion of fresh dill (about 6 sprigs in each), about 15 peppercorns, a 1/8 cup of balsimic vinegar, and a dash of cinnamon and mustard powder (though seeds would have been preferred).

Then, I carefully crammed the carrots into the jar, lining them up so that as many as possible would fit inside the jar.  Also, I made sure that each jar had plentiful amounts of garlic and onions.  

Once the jars were partially full, I created my brine (/Sample Brine) .

At the same time, I boiled a small pot of water and threw my caps in, to sanitize and boil for about 15 minutes.

Once the brine was boiled, i poured it into each jar, making sure the carrots were all covered and that the about 1/2 inch of headroom was left on the top of each jar.

Put the lids on and place in a boiling water bath to process for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, I placed them on a rack to cool for 72 hours, at which point they entered the fridge to be consumed at a later date!

mmmmm.

(note that i made pickles too)